Moscow Ruling

The details are skimpy so far, but the essence of it seems to be that a Moscow City Court has ordered the church of scientology in Moscow to close up shop within 6 months for being in violation of business laws. They seem to conclude that scientology must be a business because the name (and other things) are trademarked. Tony Ortega has a pretty concise summary at his blog.

This order will of course be appealed by scientology. And the last time the government in Moscow refused to register the church it eventually made its way to the European Court of Human Rights which sided with scientology.

Ultimately, this will likely end up in that same Court. Though sooner or later one of these actions will stick.

I have no idea what the laws are in Moscow or how competent the prosecutor’s office is. But you can be sure that if there are any mistakes they will be exploited and I suspect good lawyers will make the case for scientology, if not in Russia, then in Europe. They will claim they have been singled out and discriminated against, that this is religious bigotry etc etc It is going to be a matter of whether the Russian prosecutors are able to make a stronger legal argument.

Unfortunately, an immediate unintended consquence of this order is that the IAS has a brand new reason to squeeze money out of the sheeple: the SPs are running wild in Russia, threatening the very existence of scientology there and thus the fate of every man, woman and child in the largest country on earth. It will be the new rallying cry, and it has a ring of truth to it. Of course, the money won’t all be spent on lawyers, the local scientologists will be expected to cover their own legal costs – they are not allowed to ask for subsidies from “international management” without the executives being Comm Eved and removed from their positions. So, it will add to the scam of the IAS, but not much can be done about this.

But on the other side of this coin is the fact one of the weakest links in the scientology house of cards are the copyrights/trademarks. These have never really been challenged in the US (I am not talking Trade Secrets which is a different body of law and was what the mid 90’s litigation against Larry Wollersheim, Dennis Erlich, Keith Henson, Arnie Lerma et al centered around — the publication of the OT Levels).

The concept of trademarks in particular is pretty inimical to the concept of freedom of religion. Copyrights are less easily categorized, though I believe a good argument could be made that would overturn precedent set by the Christian Scientists on their copyrighted materials.

But let’s stick to Trademarks — which is where the Moscow court seems to have focused too. Realize this is a layman’s description and understanding and these are my thoughts. There are probably lawyers out there who could take me to task for my somewhat simplistic approach and description. I am trying to keep it simple even though I do understand this is a very complicated legal issue….

A Trademark is defined by the US Patent and Trademark Office as: A word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.

Pretty simple definition, and certainly scientology has a right to trademark anything they want as long as nobody else has registered it before them and it is not a generic term (some scientology trademarks are “weak” like “Purification Rundown” because those are fairly commonly used and understood terms, whereas a trademark like scientology is “strong” as there is no similar term in use).

But where this becomes far more complicated is when you add “religion” and “tax exemption” into the mix.

The constitution and its interpretation by courts through the last two centuries basically guarantees everyone in the US the right to practice the religion of their choice freely, as long as doing so breaks no others laws. So, if one were to hang out their shingle and claim they are practicing scientology without the approval of RTC, it would be an interesting battle of competing interests. I think the balance between protecting the rights of the trademark owner to shut you down if you are offering something that in their eyes dilutes the value of their mark (you don’t want inferior quality knock-offs ruining your brand — when you buy a Rolex watch with that brand and symbol you don’t want a Swatch with a Rolex name on it) and the right to practice your religion tips in favor of the freedom to practice. Because you have to enter another factor into the equation — economic loss. The theory is that intellectual properties (copyrights, trademarks and patents) protect the VALUE of something you created or own. That value is measurable in economic terms.

Scientology has a very thin, if not impossible, line to walk because to prosecute a claim for trademark infringement they would have to show economic harm. Copyrights are easier — the idea that someone cannot sell a bootleg copy of your movie or book is pretty easy to grasp. Same with a patent for the workings of an Emeter. People patents gadgets and machines every minute of every day. But what about patenting an “idea” or “image” which is really what a trademark is. And that idea or image is a “religion.” If scientology claims they suffer economic harm by the practice of scientology outside their zone of approval, they have essentially admitted they are running a BUSINESS that is seeking to make money. One would normally think that you would want your ideas of salvation spread as far and wide as you can possible get them and that one and all would be allowed to participate if the intent was to HELP people and not to simply monopolize an income stream.

And this position of protecting your income stream and the commercial nature of such a concept is anathema to tax exempt status.

This has not been litigated to a final result that I am aware of. It must be a big concern for scientology and explains why they have not filed any suits against “squirrels.” They know that if they confront a good legal team on the other side the issue will likely end up before the US Supreme Court and I suspect they do not like their odds. Losing the trademarks would be the ultimate black mark on Miscavige. And I think it would be the likely outcome.

I also believe that in litigation like this, the plaintiff loses. It would be pretty pointless to file a lawsuit against scientology to claim they were infringing your rights to practice your religion if they had done nothing to try and prevent you from doing so. But if scientology were to sue to try to enforce their trademarks and thus prevent someone from the practicing the religion of their choice, they would be seen as bullies and would end up with bad decisions like the recent one in the Texas Appeals court in the Monique Rathbun case.

Thus, it’s a sort of Mexican standoff, though every day RTC does NOT prosecute “infringers” weakens their position. You eventually lose protection from the law if you do nothing to properly protect your rights. Thus, this is a war of attrition that scientology utlimately loses.

But battle has been joined on this issue in Moscow. And it’s not a “squirrel” or an “aggrieved scientologist” that is the other party in this fight. It is the government. And that is a different beast. I dont have the time or resources to make a study of the law in Russia that applies to this case, but I suspect the basic concepts I have described above generally fit this scene.

This is not good territory for scientology to be fighting on. It is going to be interesting to see how this Moscow case plays out.

Comments

“According to the law, at least 80% of contributions received should be directed to charities during the year of receipt. The Court found expenditure of contributions to the distribution of leaflets in schools, lectures, pickets and flash mobs, bicycle races, “round tables” and seminars, as well as the rental of premises (rental spent more than half of the funds) unlawful”.
This! (from St Petrobourg case…).

I just LOVE how Russia sees a duck they call it a fucking duck. Period. It’s not hard to see this is a dangerious cult and will control the minds of there citizens ruin there familys and lives ship off there citizens children to labor for free as a former soviet oppressed poster child to raise $$ etc. Call it what it is a Buisness with mafia tactics that really harms people period. I wish my government would do the same,Wall Street,Goldman sacks,Enron,scientology the lot of them would never control the russian government in the way they have taken over the west with the iMF,world bank&the evil FED.that took over our entire money system from us and our elected protectors and privatized it,we literally pay them to print our own money and they have our gold reserves hostage!communism blew but its core is a good idea that does not play with scum like miscavage a mini Napoleon/stalin/Adolf baby

All of the copyrights and trademarks are toxic. They are virtually useless to anyone who simply has a goal to help people live a better life.

Scientology=money grubbing cult for celebrities and sci-fi pseudo-religious exorcism of aliens.
Who even knows what the sci cross or RTC or KSW even mean? They are meaningless to the general public. People who are looking for help are not searching for untarnished scientology. They are staying away from it in droves.

Almost all of the copyrights for written materials, including the super-secret OT levels, are ostensibly in the public domain. One can find anything with a quick internet search and download it for free. There is so much of this being done that it simply cannot be stopped.

Anyone wishing to set themselves up as an auditor can do so easily. He’ll succeed to the degree that he gets good results and generates good word of mouth as a result. Or he can use the subject like miscavige to start his own cult and recruit his own minions to bilk money out of. Either of these will be more successful by distancing themselves from the subject of scientology because of the irreparable negative PR caused by lies, deceit and crimes of the organization.

Almost all of the advertising done by the cult is covert. They hide their name from their marks for as long as they can because every one of them knows their brand is toxic and shunned, not needed and wanted. Their trademarks and service marks, as evidenced by their own covert dissemination tactics, are worthless.

Miscavige couldn’t be protecting them for any reason other than to bilk more money out of the uninformed and misinformed bubble-dwellers.

Putting the law aside and using nothing but common sense and fair play, the Co$ should refund every penny they fraudulently extorted from good-hearted people. Until they do that, they deserve every government attack and all the negative press they receive. They also deserve to have great websites like this one airing their dirty laundry for all the world to see.

Something that may be a factor in the Russia is the belief in the Primacy of the State. While this was common in the rest of Europe (“L’etat c’est moi”) it was turned up to eleven in the Imperial period and beyond that under Soviet rule. As material evidence of this look at the railroads. While the rest of the world (U.S. and Europe) had adopted a common rail gauge the railroads in Russia during the Imperial period were built to a wider gauge. Also the railroad between St. Petersburg (which I still think of as Leningrad) and Moscow is laid out on a straight line. Although western experts were brought in to lay out the route in accordance to a cost-benefit analysis Crown Prince Nicolas (yes, that idiot) would have none of it and laid a straightedge on a map, drew a line, and declared that to be the route. Never mind the fact that it served no one but the state.

Given this the only way that Scientology will move ahead in Russia is if Comrade Putin replaces DM as COB.

The wider track gauge actually had a practical purpose. Spreading the weight of the train over a larger area duing the spring thaws, when most of the country turns into a quagmire. “King Mud” played a large part in defeating both Napolean and Hitler when they invaded Russia. A certain amount of military paranoia is also involved. By using a different gauge, invaders can’t just run train loads of troops up to the gates of Moscow.

Now the straight line track between Moscow and St. Petersburg, that’s a whole ‘nuther story.

The Russians seem to be thinking per a witness testimony, the Church is a C.I.A. front. The F.B.I. were ordered to drop their recent investigation into the Church.

Miscavige has had a 007 license with crimes against humanity. The shakedowns on the Church membership he has caused have been monumental. The I.R.S. is guarding over him.

I heard there was a P.R. project going on in Washington and an office set up there, and Miscavige was parked there for awhile. I heard a LOT of money was funneled there, probably the money people donated to ABLE to help kids off drugs that David embezzled for his own “mad money” but whatever.

It may also be, the russians consider the Scientology Organization as some kind of NGO from USA.
After the wave of color revolutions in Arabia and eastern Europe, Russia is very careful.

It’s not that the russians don’t value spirituality.
Religion was suppressed throuout the time of communism, but not anymore. To the contrary.
Putin even opened a Mosque some time ago in Moscow (in a manner very reminiscent of the openings of “ideal orgs”).

And don’t forget, lots of Scientology off-shots can be found there (Rons Org et al). And russian engineers produce very good e-meters (for a fraction of the price you’d pay elsewhere).
The off-shots are non-political whereas the Scientology Organization is (despite what they’re saying in their PR).
Auditing is very popular in Russia. Without the draconian organization they are far better off.

The Control Agenda:
Control, Responsibility and Freedom in the Church of Scientology
by Chris Owen

FIRST PLACE WINNER
2000 LITERATI CONTEST….

..Within weeks of announcing it, the Special Zone Plan was subsumed into a permanently staffed body within the Hubbard Communications Office of the Church of Scientology — the “Department of Government Affairs”. Hubbard was even more explicit about the goals of this body, which still exists to this day as a function of Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs:

The goal of the Department is to bring the government and hostile philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the goals of Scientology. This is done by high level ability to control and in its absence by low level ability to overwhelm. Introvert such agencies. Control such agencies.

He was equally explicit about the means to be used, again involving infiltration tactics:

The action of bringing about a pro-Scientology government consists of making a friend of the most highly placed government person one can reach, even placing Scientologists in domestic and clerical posts close to him and seeing to it that Scientology resolves his troubles and case.

On Sunday, in a particularly pensive (read sad) mood — I decided to AT LEAST get real buttered popcorn, some twizlers and Poland Spring water at the movies and go for the 4:10 showing of

SPOTLIGHT

Two friends from totally different walks of life recommended it. Neither had ever been CLOSE to a scientology organization let alone knew anything other than the tabloid fodder. One was a western buddhist, the other a professor at Dartmouth College.

The movie, with a FABULOUS cast was about the exposing of the Catholic Church IN BOSTON in 2002. OVER a decade ago. It’s a MOVIE (unlike Going Clear is a documentary) BUT it’s based totally on the true story of the abuse and how is was kept hidden in Boston.

This expose further exposed the WORLD WIDE abuse of children, many of whom killed themselves and almost ALL of whom suffered their entire lives from the sexual abuse. VICTIMS of priests and their ability to HIDE behind the cloak of the first amendment and tax exemption, big money, big networks and the code of the times — “protect our faith”.

The movie upset me so much I had to come home and go to bed. For a couple of days.

A friend heard about the movie – on National Public Radio and had to pull over her car and vomit. She endured abuse for 4 years starting at 9 years old. She won’t be seeing the movie. She is my age and has spent a lifetime burying the pain.

MY POINT? The Catholic Church STILL STANDS. It moved the Cardinal — who oversaw the Boston area —
Cardinal Laws away from Boston. He is NOW at the VATICAN in a senior position.

Catholicism still exists. MUCH of it is good. MUCH of it is pure evil. It’s rich beyond measure. AND like an enormous ocean liner — turns VERY VERY SLOWLY.

Go see the movie. Recognize Scientology WITHIN this movie.

And see Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Karen dela Carriere, Nancy Many, and all the others as the secret and then NOT SO SECRET “Spotlight” team. Perhaps see Leah Remini as the Boston Globe Sunday edition of the scandal breaking.

And remember the words of the editor at the end of the movie — there is PLENTY of guilt to go around — take the weekend off — we are running this story. See you Sunday.

Stop WISHING Marty, Mike, Karen etc would say more —-

And start BEING YOURSELF —- by digging out of your mind and body those “glass shards” that continue to make you THINK you are being yourself when in fact — you just might STILL be just a little teeny bit … walking someone else’s path.

Scientology *might* reform and then those that find it THE path, will rejoice. Scientology has now so many different types of former scientologists it’s nearly impossible to not find someone who was once involved …

For me — I have chosen to bit by little bit recognize that what it lacks FOR ME — the sheer poetry and dare I say “mystical magic” of other paths.

But that is just me. One thing for sure — there are many paths up the mountain. At the top – the view is the same.

(blog coming soon) …

Forever thankful to Marty who was the FIRST “public – former scientology site” I posted on. And Mike – the next. I’ve read nearly all of them and only post on these two and have sine 2009 when Marty started and then no Mikes when he started.

I am thankful to everyone who posts and comments and to those who just read.

It’s ALL about connection. Connect enough hands and hearts and we will have changed the world.

Alex Gibney’s “Mea Maxima Culpa” is an excellent documentary which also exposes the some of these abuses in the Catholic Church. Those deaf mutes that started it all are some of the most courageous heros around.

In Hernandez v. Commissioner, 490 U.S. 680 (1989) the US Supreme court decided the quid pro quo nature of “fixed donations” meant for all practicle purposes $cientology was a business, and not entitled to tax exemption. The IRS ignored this decision and granted tax exemption anyway to make 2,400+ lawsuits go away.

What will be interesting is seeing if the Russian government points at the Hernandez decision in their arguements against any appeal by $cientology Moscow.

This is Russia, which is basically like the US (money, power, wins over everyone else). The Russian authorities (whoever they may be), see Scientology as a cult/con/scam. They want to get rid of Scientology, and they will succeed in doing so.

Russia pays no more heed to the European Court of Human Rights than the US does to abiding by the Geneva Convention (e.g., don’t torture people). In effect, neither gives a fuck. And why should they? What can either body do against a true superpower? Absolutely nothing.

So, legal rulings here or there, Scientology will be wiped out in Russia. Or more accurately, the Church of Scientology will NOT be able to con Russians out of their cash within the borders of Russia. And that’s okay.

If I was the Church of Scientology, I would save my cash (they might win, but it will make NO difference). But the Church of Scientology has only one game plan and has 0 ability to adjust on the fly. So they will throw money and lawyers at the problem, yet will end up with the same result.

I’m not sure what the trigger was that set Russia on a path to kicking Scientology out, but there must have been one. I’m just fishing in the dark, but I would put money on Scientology having conned a great deal of cash out of one of the children of the ruling class in Moscow/St Petersburg. That’s guaranteed to bring the heat.

On a side note, I recommend watching a fascinating documentary about Putin. It was a Canadian TV production called “the Fifth Estate.” It provides a quick, and accurate read on who Putin is and how he got to where he is today. Revealing stuff. No doubt, Scientology did NOT get this memo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAAMPiF_BSg

“I’m not sure what the trigger was that set Russia on a path to kicking Scientology out, but there must have been one. ”

Maybe they saw the Squirrel Busters video, maybe they found out the leader of the religion has a restraining order on himself in Texas for domestic terrorism. Maybe they found out David has court docs in L.A. saying enforced abortion as a discipline on women is his religious right. But the video of the Scientology execs at LAX ambushing Marty would have been enough for them to want to vaccinate themselves from this virus.

Or maybe they just hate anything that smacks of “Western influence”, especially religion (they did a number on Jehovah’s Witnesses back in the day), which is definitely the case. A lot of the anti-gay feeling in Russia is based on the belief that homosexuality is a “Western import” and against good old Orthodox belief and morality. Never apply the Western view of morality to anything that the Russians do.

Absolutely!
Be very, very careful at assuming the values and morals of the Russians. The formative histories of the Russian soul are radically and vastly different than the American histories. These are a beaten upon people that never managed to stay conquered, survivors to the very core. Their tolerances and intolerances are largely unlike ours and some aspects are possibly beyond the abilities of the average American to truly understand.

What morals?
To my best estimation, the values and morals of the US government are as fickle as butterflies and largely dependent on which official/corporation/interest group’s ox might get gored, said ox not being publicly revealed.
For something for people, by the people, and of the people, the government never seems to hold people in any kind of high esteem on a consistent basis.

It’s more than just Western influence, it’s outside influence. Much like in China – and in Cold War U.S.S.R. – a lot of the control Putin’s regime has is based in the idea that the government “of the people” should be the first priority of every citizen. Nothing should come before the government – not you, your family, your religion. If your religion is undermining the government, or your family is not following the rules, you are obligated to report the matter for “correction.”

Obviously a big part of the Scientology gravy-train is their celebrity connections – which represents both Western influence and an idealizing of something other than Putin and his minions. If you’re busy worshiping Tom Cruise as the miraculous creature, who is sent here to save us all, and can do no wrong, it becomes harder for them to convince you that Putin is all those things too.

And then there’s LRH – no WAY is Putin going to tolerate having to compete with Hubbard or Miscavige, for the blind adulation of his people. You cannot be truly loyal to Putin, and be a part of any religion which is so steeped in exclusion and absolute obedience. Therefore any religion which requires this of its adherents, is automatically an enemy of Russia.

Which is ironic, because Scientology is an enemy of any nation, not because of the Russian standard, but because of the way it harms their population.

It really all comes down to Putin and Scientology having the same obsession with the Abrahamic commandment, “Though shalt have no other gods before me.”

Something to consider: I imagine the Russian regime will not gladly suffer any organization that lies and keeps secrets as well or better (egregiously?) than the government does. They definitely remember what happened the last time a major organization kept secrets, ran agents, managed funds, and made secret plans. That resulted as the October 1917 revolution that overthrew the Czar, despite the best efforts of Lavrentyi Beria.

I think you are right Mark. Something close to Putin. I remember sometime mid 2000s a Russian couple was on the way home from Flag changing planes in my city and stopped to check out the local org. They were in their 50s very well dressed with this almost aristocratic aura. The local PR person toured them. I was told they were advisors to Putin.
I am just saying he had personal experience with scientologists.

I think Scientology has no chance now.
1) Russia currently does not listen to US or EU bla bla.
2) If Scientology goes to court outside Russia then they declare Scientology as NGO and ban them like some others. (has then nothing to do with Religion.)

Nothing to brag about or celebrate here. But it is the reality that is Russia. If Church management didn’t see this coming, they are more naive than I’d imagined. It was Stalin’s chief of the secret police Lavrentiy Beria who famously said, “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.” Never mind the legalities, if Russia wants you out, you’re out. The Church will appeal the decision in an attempt to get the ruling overturned. Let’s all hold our breaths for that.

“Show me the man, I”ll find you the crime.” This is OSA’s instructions from LRH in handling detractors and enemies of the church: dig up dirt on them and intimidate them with noisy investigations. And David, let him die, Miscavige, has perfected it to an art.

Sounds like a lot of us are tracking here as regards the basic reason the Russians want to defang Scientology. For them, the Co$ = OSA, and OSA, to them, translates as CIA On Steroids.

And Putin should know as he once headed his country’s KGB. This is SO right up his alley. Also, the New Yorker Magazine has reported that Putin is on excellent terms with Germany’s Prime Minister and converses with Angela Merkel regularly…need one elaborate further?

A US court ruled against the Mother Church of Christan Science when it tried to stop a breakaway church in Plainfield, NJ from using the name “Christian Science.”

Only editions of the Christian Science textbook (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures) published in or after 1922 are copyrighted. Courts took away the special copyright that Congress had previouslyvenacted for all editions of that book.

The Bono Copyright Protection Act, an abomination for reasons having nothing to do with real or fake religions, treats Christian Science texts the same as all other texts.

Within US law the closest precedent is the long-running litigation between the international Baha’i and the “orthodox” Baha’i. This schism arose when the “Guardian” of the Baha’i faith, Shoghi Effendi, died without a will. The Baha’i based in Haifa decided that the office of Guardian was no longer needed and moved to leadership by a council (the “International House of Justice”) while a disciple Mason Remey claimed that Shoghi Effendi had intended him as the next Guardian. He was the architect of the beautiful Baha’i temple in Willamette Illinois and sued for possession of that building but the Haifa organization won that case, then tried to shut his schism down completely by claiming trademarks on the name “Baha’i” and their nine-pointed star logo. Remey fell into a paralyzing depression and ordered his lawyers to stop fighting, so the judge signed the order proposed by the international Baha’i granting them this broad trademark. Decades later, after the orthodox Baha’i had splintered into subsects based on who the rightful successor to Remey might be, the international Baha’i tried to shut them all down again. The court was a little befuddled, didn’t seem to think a religion ought to be allowed to own a trademark but wasn’t sure it had the authority to dissolve the old order, and dismissed the case on technical grounds that none of the presently existing “orthodox Baha’i” groups are exactly the same organization as the one in the original case, so the old order didn’t apply to them, and if the international Baha’i wanted an order against the new groups, they would have to argue their rights to claim a trademark anew, as if the old case had never happened. The International House of Pancakes saw which way the wind was blowing, and declined to pursue the matter further.

As long as we are talking trademarks and copyrights. I am not to sure of the law but I read comic books and I know there is a law that allows original creators or heirs of the creators the right to legally take back their work. So my question or thinking out loud comment is what if Hubbard’s children and grandchildren who aren’t in scientology, sue to gain control of his work.

Another is imminent domain. A law that has all works enter public use after a period of time but Disney has already messed with that law so much, I am not sure what exactly it is anymore. Again just some thoughts out loud

Great article, Mike. I hear you on the IAS jumping all over this, and I do feel sorry for the Still Ins for how they are going to be pounced on by the IAS Vultures, but then, on the other hand, I believe that the more the cult soaks the Still Ins, the faster they will withdraw and go UTR, or just leave outright.

I believe that in order for any serious koolaid drinker to have “aha” experience where they really start looking and questioning and researching on the Internet the person will have to reach a point which communicates as “Enough! This is too much! No more!”…that kind of moment. Heavy, relentless regging is one way for a Still In to have that kind of moment and begin laying plans to leave.

Moscow. November 18. INTERFAX.RU – Leninsky Court of St. Petersburg eliminated Charitable Foundation “Say Drugs – no! Say life – yes!” due to the fact that its activities do not correspond to the charter, as well as because of the disturbances in the financial statements.

The flaps in Russia were bought on by non compliance to the law. Miscavige is used to getting away with hidden recording devices, finance irregs, in the U.S.. He can’t even get out of non E in Russia! He can’t find out what is wanted and need and produce it! The guy can’t do a non e. Someone get the man a demo kit please!

Ironies!
A our poor, poor FFT fearless leader is absent any insight whatsoever, but it is plain as day to the rest of us: the cherch espouses and endorses SOooo many contradictions within its canon the this has become a “normal” condition. Due to the executive inflexibility of the leadership, they’ve maintained this position sufficiently long enough that this has come around to bite them in the ass. All the moral and legal positions/justifications that afforded the cherch a great deal of support and legitimacy are just now becoming their points of greatest weakness and untruth!

Ultimately the COS loses on this just by the very fact of it happening. Every one of these court actions lowers the legitamacy of the COS as an actual church in the eyes of the public (win or lose the court case). And each court case soaks up some more money in legal fees and occupies mucho attention units.

I think it’s a GOOD thing that the IAS can mock up another enemy and get another fund raising appeal going. I really thought that critical mass would have been reached on the fundraising two or three years ago. I was obviously wrong, as even if stats are down, the money is still rolling in in substantial amounts. But eventually your everyday Scientologists will have no more to give and even a whale or two or three is gonna be milked once too often.

There’s are good reasons Russian courts aren’t cited by other courts, so I can’t get too excited about a Russian court ruling on anything. I mean, I get the immediate upside since it’s a downside for Scientology, but an appeals ruling from the ECHR is even more valuable to Scientology than if the Russian court had ruled in their favor, since the ECHR is a more influential court and Scientology is always in need of persecution bona fides, which goes a long way to helping with internal and external propaganda.

I don’t know quite what the ECHR will do with it, but I don’t think much of a ruling that would find a church a “business” merely because it holds trademarks. There are plenty of good reasons to find Scientology a business not worthy of whatever perks comes with recognition as a religion in Russia–hanging the entire argument on the existence of trademarks seems arbitrary. I imagine Scientology lawyers will note that it cuts the other way–that religions recognized in Russia hold US trademarks, so why aren’t their statuses revoked?

The argument would hold no water in the US. For one thing, the purpose of trademarks in the US isn’t only to designate business property but to protect the public from confusion. If I’m donating to “Catholic Charities” (a legit charity), I want that charity to be able to guard its trademark so I know I’m not accidentally donating to a fraudulent third party posing as Catholic Charities. So restraining a church from registering a trademark would be viewed as potentially harmful to the public. The flip side allowing religious organizations to hold trademarks occasionally crops up in cases where competing factions of the same religion go to court each contending ownership. Per the establishment clause, courts can’t become “entangled” in religious affairs and so must adhere to secular reasoning in deciding such cases. Which isn’t easy.

That said, most trademark disputes between churches in US courts are between small, clearly delineated sects (the Seventh Day Adventist Church of Muskeegee) as opposed to big organizations representing millions (the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia hasn’t registered a TM, for instance).

Yes, the way Scientology *uses* trademarks is far different than almost any other religious group–it uses them to create business monopolies. I’ve long thought that Scientology’s most general trademarks could be broken by a case brought (or instigated) by an Independent or FZ Scientologist. Of course, easier said than done, given the harassment that would accompany such a suit. But the heart of the argument is that CSI/RTC/CST’s attempted imposition of trademark (and copyright) exclusivity violates the free exercise rights of the smaller group by denying their existence. Such a case would force Scientology to make some pretty creative arguments that aren’t simply “they’re taking money out of our pockets.”

If it sounds like I’m describing a route David Mayo already traveled, fair enough, but the issues in those cases were about stolen documents, trade secrets, legal fees, and so on, not about copyright and trademark. And I’d obviously not recommend someone become the next David Mayo and get similarly buried in paper and stress. Just thinking out loud in response to a good question I’ve long considered.

Thanks Scott. I wholeheartedly concur with all your points. I am not too excited about this either, but I wanted to put some thoughts on paper.

I would love to see a case in the US where the issue is squarely framed of the rights of a trademark holder to dictate the free exercise of religion. It is an argument I don’t think scientology would prevail on which is why I think they have refrained from taking any action that might result in them finding themselves in that particular briar patch.

“Judaism”, “Islam” and “Christianity” are not trademarks. Many Muslims claim that the Nation of Islam has nothing to do with actual Islam. Actual Islam does not teach that white people were invented by an evil scientist named Yakub. But even so, no Muslim can force the Nation of Islam to change its name.

On the other hand, “Hillel” is the name of a Jewish organization with chapters on most major college campuses, and “Hillel” is a trademarked name. Sometimes anti-Israel activists try to form anti-Israel campus groups including the word “Hillel” in their name, and Hillel has always been able to prevent them from doing so. Of course, “Hillel” is not a religion. A group called “Jews for Jesus” does operate legally because “Jews” cannot be trademarked.

Careful, OSD. No spoofing or clever punning as re the health and safety of Captain Miscavige. Of course, any sane individual reading your joke would recognize it as such but we’re talking about the Church of Everything Equals Everything When You’re Motivator Hungry Scientology.

I don’t disagree with most of your points – especially about Russian courts having minimum sway here, after all, their current reputation isn’t much dependent on being a free and just government.

But this statement , “that religions recognized in Russia hold US trademarks,” feels like it’s overstating what legal rights those churches are claiming.

That a charity run by a specific archdiocese has trademark on their name, for the purposes of avoiding consumer confusion, is obviously true and has a valid reason for the existence of the trademark. But that’s a trademark on the name of the charity, NOT the religion. Running a charity which fraudulently claims to be associated with a specific church is another matter, and does not require trademark law to prosecute or litigate – it’s a fraud case which is supported by none of the money collected going to the church people thought they were giving money to.

Unlike Scientology, most religions aren’t bothering to try and claim intellectual property rights on things like their religious texts – anybody can reinterpret the bible and print one, plus most popular interpretations (like the KJV) are well past the point of being in the public domain. And in about 40 years, Dianetics will join it. In fact that’s probably at least part of why the CoS continues to revise and change its training methods – every time they republish their ‘courses’ they create a new copyright date.

But no Abrahamic religions or denominations are trying to copyright a term like “The Bible” or “Christianity.” And the more obscure or unusual religions, like Wicca or Zoroastrianism know that any recruitment they do is benefited from information about their religion being found all over the internet. So again, they aren’t trademarking the name of their religion, even if they could get away with it.

Scientology is one of only two religions I’ve heard of to trademark the actual name of their religion, and try and prevent ANYONE from claiming to be engaged in the religious practice of Scientology (or in the other case being a Seventh Day Adventist) outside of the approved church. And the SDA cases have already caused a lot of controversy and a pretty significant dispute over whether they should be allowed to have a copyright on the name, and prevent any heretical group from forming their own independent SDA church adhering to similar but orthodox teachings under the name of Seventh-Day Advent-ism. So if the knife did cut both ways, that would probably be a good thing. I think the Trademark argument is an interesting and potentially very useful place to work from.

Where you take issue with my “[…] that religions recognized in Russia hold US trademarks” statement for “overstating what legal rights those churches are claiming”, I think the issue is less about other churches “claiming legal rights” than about the near impossibility of courts distinguishing between the breadth (e.g., “Scientology” vs. “Holy Synod The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic And Apostolic Church In North America”) of church-owned trademarks. I think the distinction is certainly real, for the same reasons you point out and which I’ve pointed out in the past, but not one I’d think the ECHR will find useful, especially if Russia just pulled this “US-owned trademark” distinction out of its ass, which I think is the case. And especially because the ECHR will likely view this in light of the previous Russia v Scientology conflict; the court will be predisposed to view this as gamesmanship and an attempt to circumvent its last ruling.

I do think the distinction is important though; but as a legal argument I think it will only find success as a prong among many others also attesting to how Scientology is a business in every objective sense.

Also useful to point out here that during the time between the Hernandez loss and the IRS settlement, Scientology was preparing a new set of Hernandez-like cases (I think the key one was Powell v US) which conceded the Hernandez quid pro quo argument but which instead argued “administrative inconsistency”–the IRS hadn’t denied, for instance, payments made by members of the Jewish religion for High Holy Day tickets; mandatory tithes paid by members of the Mormon religion, which are required for participation in religious services; stipends paid by members of the Catholic religion in exchange for special masses; and rental fees paid by members of certain Protestant religions for the privilege of sitting in a specific pew at religious services. That is, the IRS was treating certain quid pro transactions as “gifts” but not Scientology’s. Differences? Sure. But Scientology, after losing at the trial court level, won at the 11th Circuit and the case would likely have wound up back at SCOTUS had the IRS not settled. Now, the ECHR isn’t the 11th Circuit, but the arguments available to Scientology at this point echo their success in Powell, and I think they’ll ultimately be successful here.

With respect to copyright expiration, you’re right that one of the key reasons Scientology creates revisions and forces the sale of those revisions is to bump up the copyright expiration. But it’s helpful to know that the core copyright will still expire (unless Congress alters the law) sometime around 2055; only the revisions retain copyright protection. So people possessing older copies of LRH works (pre-death in 1986) will be able to republish those freely in 2057. It’ll be trickier to *sell* those republished works without running into a trademark problem but not impossible; seller just needs to be careful to indicate that he/she is the source and not affiliated with CSI/RTC/CST/Whomever.

Apart from Mayo there is the case of Enid Vien. She was successfully
sued by CO$. At the time it was thought by some she just didn’t have the funds to carry on litigation. I don’t think well with legal matters, but in case its helpful here is a link.

[snip]
[6] COPYRIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Instructor who offered religious course for sale violated California copyright
law by copying or directing her students to copy, as part of course, sound
recordings to which religious organizations owned copyrights and which were
fixed on tape prior to effective date of federal protection for such
recordings. West’s Ann.Cal.Civ.Code s 980(a)(2).

You’re absolutely right – the best attack is going to need more than one prong, and stronger ones than what the Russian’s are working with now. Though I’d be curious to see amounts of those other ‘gifts/donations’ vs what Scientology is pulling in. I think that the amounts offer another distinction that’s quite significant. Perhaps that distinction could help us deal with the Abrahamic denominations that are perpetuating cult-like-obsequiousness themselves – and are equally as dangerous and controlling of their parishioners, like Pat Robertson’s lot.

Russian courts can’t be called independent, as judges are appointed not for life but usually for two or three years.
Look at the many cases where the rulings went along the lines drawn by the administration, particularly against critical media outlets.
Also, the rules for ‘foreign churches’ – even those which were there since the 19th century – have been tightened continuously since the opening after the fall of communism, to the degree of harassment.
So I personally don’t give much about the actual reason for the ruling.

Well, the reason the court gives also provides the basis for appeal, so you’re right in pointing out the dubious legitimacy of the Russian courts, but Russia would at least prefer that the ECHR rules in its favor. Russia is going to do what it’s going to do regardless, though. It’d be nice if they at least treated all churches and religious group with respect, so that at very least they’re not legitimizing the persecution complexes of some groups who, like Scientology, thrive and fund-drive off that.

The term “Scientology” is a registered service mark owned by RTC. In the 1990’s early internet era we in the Official of Special Affairs therefore asserted that the word “Scientology” could not be used online as it was copyrighted.

We in OSA were able to get many early websites taken down by our legal threats against ISP’s. This worked often enough as ISP’s were afraid of being sued.

Based upon this successful action, we in OSA have copyrighted the service mark “Batshit Insane Cult” and will now sue whenever this term is used.

I doubt they would pay you any attention at all. And if you managed to gather a congregation they might eventually excommunicate you, but they would not be attempting to control you through intellectual property law. You could become your own little Protestant church. There are a lot of them already…

I know a woman who was ‘ordained’ a Roman Catholic priest(ess). The Catholic church excommunicated her and does not recognize her ‘ordination’ as a sacrament or consider any of her liturgies, services, or church as valid. An Archbishop made a public statement: “…she would incur “the gravest canonical penalties” should she continue. I don’t know if they pursued her legally.
Personally, I don’t have problems with women being ordained, but this particular woman is a nut case (imo).

Actually a breakaway Catholic faction led be an Archbishop named Marcel LeFebvre did that. It still exists.

I would imagine if it raised money in a manner that led donors to believe they were donating to the Roman Catholic Church then the latter could sue, but not simply on grounds of trademark infringement.

Thanks – this little thread has done more to explain to me the difference between scientology and larger more incumbent religious organisations. Scientology apparently takes on every legal battle, it’s only course of action (above the level of dominance of individuals) as a fight for it’s life. The Catholic Church just seems to fractionalise as a result of crime or scandal of magnitude. Scientology just doesn’t have the numbers, despite what they say.
Scientology uses an army of lawyers as a vanguard but leaves no rear-guard defence to keep “the home fire burning” so to speak. Certainly aligns with attack, attack, attack as policy.
Buber’s last comment, “Like Mike I am not an attorney either,” pretty well sums up the level of awareness required to grasp what is going with scientology. The Catholics just set up shop with a new twist in the title when trouble reaches extreme levels, but they have no operating concept of being annihilated completely.
Their all nuts in my opinion but the scam perpetuated by scientology leaves a bad smell behind wherever it goes.
I’m actually rather glad I’m not intelligent enough to get involved in an ‘intellectual conversation’ at the level required for prediction of legal outcomes, especially across sovereign boundaries, I’m confused enough with what I can wade through.

I don’t remember in detail the Moscow case won by the Cult of Greed, but I studied it and translated every single word of it when I worked for OSA in Paris a few years ago. In that particular case it was obvious that Russsian authorities had a prejudice against Scientology and were quite heavy handed on the mater. It was all about registration of Scientology as a Religion and the authorities did everything they could to avoid registering it, but without solid support on the merits. That is why the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) stepped in and overthrew the decision.

The Texas judgement by judge Wadrip was extremely well motivated and concluded that Scientology was a business wanting to keep the monopoly on Scientology services. Trying the obnoxious move of making an anti-SLAPP motion, which would be like a rapist trying to turn around a case and convict his victim for rape- didn’t work and it must have made an impression in legal circles in the South and severely marred the reputation of the COS in the Bible belt.

Now, there have been two important losses for the COS in Europe:

1) the Paris case for fraud, in which the prosecution repeatedly said they didn’t care about the beliefs and concentrated on the OCA tests, finding a ruin, hard sell, price of services, real cost of an e-meter against the price it is sold for, insistence on the buying of a second e-meter. harassing the people after the end of a course or auditing to make them buy other services, etc. I don’t remember exactly by heart, but the expert said an e-meter could be made for 150 € and they were sold for 4,000 or 5,000 which shows an obscene margin of benefit. The prosecution here did a no nonsense job and the decision was very well motivated, the case took years going all the way to appeal, Cour de Cassation and finally to the HCHR which dismissed the case and almost got the two legal entities disbanded.

2) The loss of the tax free status in Holland, which was predictable because the Church doesn’t spend money on charity. It pays Gold teams to make photo ops with VMs in order to keep the Bubble propaganda going but it won’t spend a penny on anything else.

It would be interesting to get a Russian speaker have a look at the recent decision. Calling oneself religious and insisting on trade marks is quite contradictory, imaging Christian churches fighting for trade marks such as Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Saint Trinity and the Cross or for the copyrights of the Gospels. this and the fact of calling the price for a service a “donation” always bothered me when I was in.

Another straw! Keep them coming, folks!
And I love how the Scilon lawyer made a comment to the effect that closing Co$, Moscow would render the priests unable to practice “their faith” because they wouldn’t be “…protected by the secrecy of confession!”
Secret! Hah!
Faith? Pull the other one!

How about, just throw him out penniless on the street. I’m sure the natural born seekers among us wouldn’t mind a bit of exercise.
Miscavige scavenging through a dumpster at the back of MacDonald’s on a crisp November morning has a certain poetic ring about it..

ok so the IAS asks for money from all public scientology to help the fight in Russia while the Moscow Mission must actually cover it’s legal costs. I understand the scam. My question however is does the Moscow Scientologists know the ISA is asking for money on their behalf they will never see and does public scientology know the Moscow org must cover their own bills while they also give money for them. How does the CO$ keep the various sides from finding out?

Second it’s sad that Russia took a stand before we did. Like I said earlier with the news of a new death from Narcinon, and everything else that’s out now why isn’t the FBI investigating and the IRS demanding to see the books. No one else should die. This country needs to take a stand before DM disappears with millions of dollars leaving even more lives in ruin.

I want to add as someone who never became involved in scientology I really respect people like you Mike and Marty and all the others who saw through the lies and brainwashing and got out and then dedicated yourself to help others who leave and spread the word about DM and the CO$. Y’all took a risk and I respect your courage

I second that. As I was reading Mike’s blog post today it made me wonder “don’t the Scientologists who are “in” Scientology know about all these people that are leaving and are talking about their experiences? If Scientology is science based which means being logical then doesn’t it logically follow that all the people who have left and are now turning on Scientology might know something they don’t know? Or is everyone who leaves Scientology a liar? That’s not logical and it’s not possible to have 100% exit rate of liars, but all the truth tellers stay in. That is until a truth teller (my name for the cult attendees) leaves and then they all of a sudden become a liar! Doesn’t make logical sense. My brother is fabulous and wonderful one day and the best man on this earth and the next day he leaves Scientology and he’s a liar and not a wonderful man anymore??? Doesn’t make logical sense. Is that the first thing you are brainwashed out of, your logic?

Is no one tempted to go to the internet to find out what’s going on?

Someone asked how long till Scientology falls completely? I say 5 years. It won’t fall completely until the IRS stops classing it as a Church. I also know this sounds crazy but if Tom Cruise and/or John Travolta are businessmen they will distance themselves and act shocked to discover what has been going on in their organization. They will plead they knew nothing as they were treated like the celebrities they are and were kept away from all of that. They will say that it all made sense at the time and it took ????? IRS pulling Church status, someone else either famous or child of famous to die at another of their torture camps they call treatment centers. As long as the ball is kept rolling with the stories of people escaping and those of us on the outside are welcoming you home with open arms, then it’s going to be difficult for Scientology to survive. Just my 2 cents as an outsider.

No, yes, scientology holds the keys to greater awareness, in fact, the highest spiritual awareness possible on this planet. YET, denies individual powers of deductive reasoning to its parishioners and disallows them the internet, books, articles, TV interviews with anyone who says anything negative about the c of s or david miscavige.

Right, and the cult has a handy, go-to response to all questions from Still Ins as to why a dedicated Scientologist would suddenly leave, became disaffected and/or a vocal apostate, and as such, an enemy of the church which can be summed up in one phrase: Out Ethics. It is extremely handy because anyone anywhere on the Scientology Bridge can go “out ethics”, and that they do so is the ONLY reason they ever leave, and there are NO exceptions, it is ALWAYS out-ethics which causes ANYONE to depart from the cult.

Indeed, and the good old faithful, “give it a label,” also takes care of any need for further investigation or looking, especially if command intention created the label in the first place, always safe ground to agree to that. They live a simple life scientologists – so damn simple it’s idiotic.

They sure do, and it sure is. But then why tax the brain making distinctions between things when slapping a label on something is all you need to make a decision quickly and effortlessy? Also, thinking in identities frees up much needed attention units for focusing on what’s important, like making their next IAS donation go right.

Wow, that’s true, Robert. By desperately holding on with zealous trademarking and other extreme protective measures, the church lost the tech. If they had let it go, if they had just focused on delivering it instead of fearfully holding it and guarding it – wow. A very different scene.

Important Quotes

If the org slumps during this transition period, don't engage in "fund raising"
or "selling postcards" or borrowing money. Just make more income with Scientology.
L Ron Hubbard From HCOPL URGENT ORG PROGRAMMING

"We own a tremendous amount of property. We own a tremendous amount of material and so forth, and it keeps growing.
But that’s not important. When buildings get important to us, for God sakes, some of you born revolutionists will you please blow up central headquarters".
L Ron Hubbard Lecture 31 Dec 1960

"Personal integrity is knowing what you know. What you know is what you know and to have the courage to know and say what you have observed".- LRH from Personal Integrity

"It is necessary to happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists of professing to believe what he does not believe." Thomas Paine

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” - Martin Luther King

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” - Martin Luther King

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

“Communication is the universal solvent” - L Ron Hubbard

“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.” Thomas Paine

"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth." William Faulkner

"The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis." Dalai Lama